525,600 Moments
by sumrsilentmusic
Summary: Our lives are made up of moments. One moment can create us, change us, define us. This is an exploration of the moments that created, changed, and defined Percy and Annabeth. AU/AH.
1. Summer, 1998

_**Summer, 1998**_

"This is a pretty house, Daddy. It's like the buildings we read about in the book." The little girl's blonde hair was in a lopsided ponytail. Her wispy hair escaped from the sparkly, pink scrunchie and flew in every direction. As the sun set, the light filtered through her hair and made it glow like a halo even though she was far from angelic, especially according to her father.

"Yes, Annabeth. Do you know what style of house this is?"

"Noooo," she dragged the word out in a sing-song-y voice, "What?"

"Any guesses?"

"Is it built by the people who built the Paratheaon?"

"Parthenon, Annabeth. That's what it's called."

"It's big and white like the Par...," she hesitated to make sure she was pronouncing the word correctly, "Parthenon."

"Yes. But that was built a very, very long time ago. The people who built the Parthenon wouldn't be alive to build this house. This is a neoclassical style house, Annabeth. That's why it looks so much like the Parthenon. They're trying to copy it."

"Daddy, can I go ring the doorbell?" Annabeth asked as they walked up to the welcome mat.

"Well, that would be practical since I'm the one holding the wine and the food. Can you reach it?"

"Look, Daddy! I grew! When we went trick-or-treating here last year, I couldn't reach it then!"

"Well, of course you grew, Annabeth. It's been almost a year."

Annabeth fidgeted while waiting for the door to open, wondering what her new neighbors would be like. Daddy told her that the lady who moved in across the street from them had a kid her age. She hoped the kid was a girl, so they could become best friends.

They heard feet pattering on the ground and a click of a lock. "Mom, Mom! I want to get it! I want to get it!"

"Percy, honey, the door's pretty heavy." The door opened with a _swish_ and before Annabeth stood a woman who had dark curly hair and a little boy with even darker hair, who was desperately trying to push past his mom and get a good view of his new neighbors.

Annabeth, who was suddenly shy, tried to duck behind her father, "Annabeth, that's not polite. Say hi."

She peered out behind her father's legs and whispered, "Hi, I'm Annabeth. We live over there," pointing to her house.

"It's very nice to meet you Annabeth. My name is Sally, and this silly little boy here," she said, holding Percy by the shoulders, "is Percy. Why don't you two come inside?"

Annabeth grinned. This was exactly what she was hoping for when she bugged her father to take her to visit the new neighbors. She had wanted to see the inside of this Parthenon for a very long time.

_A/N: This is an AU/AH story about Percy and Annabeth. Again, it is **AU/AH**, meaning there will be no demigods, no monster, no Greek mythology in the modern world. It's mostly an exploration of Percy and Annabeth's relationship, and how they will grow over the years (because honestly, everyone could use a little more Percabeth in their lives). Anyways, thanks for reading!_

_Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rick Riordan. _


	2. Autumn, 1998 & 1999

_**Autumn, 1998**_

Annabeth was sad that kindergarten was not "real" school. She wanted to go to school for an entire day like the big kids. But she was still really, _really_ excited for the first day of school. She went to bed two hours earlier than usual and got up at five a.m. because she didn't want to be late; she made sure to get nine and a quarter hours of sleep because Daddy told her that was the amount of sleep a person needed to learn well.

She asked Daddy to sign her up for morning kindergarten because she didn't want to sit at home and wait for school to start everyday. _And_ morning kindergarten would also make the first day of school come faster.

But now, she was sitting in an empty classroom, trying not to cry. All her morning kindergarten classmates left because their parents picked them up right when school ended at 11:45. It was almost twelve now, and her daddy still wasn't here.

The teacher gave her some leftover Teddy Grahams from snack time and told her to sit at the table and wait while she went to the door to greet parents and kids from the afternoon kindergarten class.

Annabeth ate her Teddy Grahams slowly (first the ears, then the legs, then the arms, then the body, and finally the head) as the classroom started getting nosier as the afternoon kids arrived.

"Annabeth!" She looked up at the sound of her name. It was the lady from across the street. Sally. "What are you doing, still here?"

The question made a lump in her throat, and she couldn't talk because she didn't want to cry. _I think Daddy forgot about me again._

"Hold on, sweetie, I'll be right back." Annabeth watched as Sally disappeared, leaving her alone again. There was nothing to do except go back to eating her Teddy Grahams, which were starting to taste too sweet and too dry.

"Aw, sweetie," Sally came back and enveloped her in a hug, "I'm sorry, but I can't take you home with me. Ms. Kelly said that I wasn't allowed to because I'm not listed as an emergency contact."

"That's okay," Annabeth liked that Sally smelled sweet and warm, like chocolate chip cookies.

"No, no. That's not okay. I'm going to fix that with your dad as soon as possible. But you remember my son, Percy, right? You just stick with him until afternoon kindergarten's over, and I'll come pick both of you up."

Sally led Annabeth over to where Percy was playing with the wooden blocks.

Annabeth didn't really want to play with Percy. The one time she went to go visit them with her dad, Percy was busy shooting his water gun at the birds in his yard. Annabeth didn't think that was an appropriate way to treat animals.

"Percy, you remember Annabeth, right?" Percy nodded without looking up from his block tower. "Be a gentleman and keep her company, alright?"

Sally turned towards Annabeth. "Sweetie, I promise I'll get this sorted out soon," and left after giving her and Percy a kiss on the forehead.

Annabeth was staring intently at the structure Percy was building. "You're doing it wrong," she declared.

"There's no wrong way of playing with blocks," Percy replied indignantly.

"There is if you want to get your tower to be really tall." And as right as she said that, Percy's building collapsed until it was only four blocks tall.

"Fine." Percy huffed, "You try and do it better."

Annabeth tried to remember all the books she and Daddy read about building things. They said to start with a big base and to build with triangles. While Annabeth was placing the blocks, Percy handed her more blocks. They kept building until Annabeth had to stand on her tip toes, but the tower was still missing a block on top, the only building block left. They couldn't just leave it unfinished.

"Percy," Annabeth handed him a block, "could you very, very carefully put this on the top?"

Percy, who was just a little bit taller than Annabeth, stretched to his tippy toes, and very gently, placed the block squarely at the center. They both scooted back to admire their work.

"Wow, that's so cool! It's as tall as we are Annabeth!"

Annabeth flushed with pride, "Yeah."

"You know, at first, I was kind of sad that you weren't a boy because having a boy as a neighbor would be way more cooler."

"Well, I was disappointiated that you weren't a girl."

"Annabeth!" Ms. Kelly called, "Your father's here to pick you up." She walked over to Percy and Annabeth and gave them a disapproving look, "You know you aren't allowed to build anything that tall. It could be dangerous. Please clean the blocks up without knocking them down, so Annabeth can go home."

Block by block, Percy and Annabeth took down their tower. They were almost as careful taking it down as they were building it up.

"I have blocks in my playroom," Percy said, "and a step stool. We could build a tower that's even higher than this one!"

"Okay, I'll bring my blocks over, too, so we have enough blocks."

Annabeth suddenly didn't mind as much that her Daddy picked her up late. She stayed in school almost long enough to call it a real school day.

_**Autumn, 1999**_

The first day of first grade was everything Annabeth hoped and wished for. She loved being able to carefully spell out A-N-N-A-B-E-T-H C-H-A-S-E on her worksheets, she loved eating her marshmallow fluff sandwich in the lunchroom, and she loved getting homework at the end of the day (even though it was just coloring).

Annabeth did everything people should do in school. But she thought that the best thing about the first day of first grade was that she got to walk home with Sally and Percy, and she was one of the first ones in her class to get picked up.

_A/N: I'm trying to make Saturday update date, but I missed it by a day. Sorry :( Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! As always, thanks for reading. _


	3. Autumn, 1999

_**Autumn, 1999**_

"Annabeth," her father gestured to the rarely-used dining table, "sit down. We need to talk." Annabeth pulled out on of the wooden chairs and sat down, kicking her legs under the table.

"Okay, Daddy. About what?" Usually in movies, when parents told a child they needed to talk to her, she was in trouble, but Annabeth knew for a fact that she had been on her very best behavior. Plus, Daddy couldn't tell her that she was in trouble if he never saw her do anything bad. Annabeth had made sure that she was the perfect child whenever she saw her daddy, usually when Daddy picked her up from Percy's house to bring her home and put her to bed.

"Annabeth… I—I had always felt… guilty that you grew up without a woman in your life."

"What are you talking about Daddy? I have Grandma!"

"What I meant, Annabeth, was you having a mother figure."

Annabeth's brows furrowed, "But I have Sally to look after me. I go to Percy's house everyday after school, and she bakes us cookies, and hugs and kisses us, and helps us with homework. I don't need a mom."

"Yes, Annabeth. Sally's been a great help looking after you, and I'm really grateful for her, but Sally is Percy's mom—"

"She could be my mom too! Can't we just adopt her?"

"Annabeth, you're going to get a mother. I'm going to get married."

"But," Annabeth struggled to come to terms with this statement, "how can she be my mom if I don't love her?"

"She's a very nice lady, Annabeth. I'm sure she and you will grow to become very close. You've met her once, remember? She was the Asian lady we had come over for dinner."

"Oh." Annabeth knew, logically, that Daddy and her real mom would never be together. She was living across the ocean in Greece, studying to be a teacher. But Annabeth, very, very deep down in her heart of hearts, wanted Sally and her father to get married. She wanted Sally to be her mom, to tuck her in bed at night and to pack her lunch in the morning. And now that would never happen.

On the day of the wedding, Annabeth was the flower girl. It was the first time she put on makeup and got her hair done. And she would rather eat raw fish than go through it again.

The lip gloss was too sticky and made her lips feel like they were covered in oil, the eye shadow made her eyelids feel heavy, and eyeliner hurt when the makeup lady put it on. And having her hair done made her head hurt. The lady who was doing her hair kept tugging on her hair a lot, and the bobby pins were digging into her scalp.

Plus, having her hair and make up done meant that she wasn't allowed to run around with Percy or lay down on her pillow or cuddle with her stuffed animals. She wasn't allowed to rub her eyes or lick her lips. She had to drink water really carefully and couldn't eat any cupcakes, in case the frosting got her face all messy. That was a lot to keep track of!

Now, standing in front of the dressing room mirror in the church where the wedding was to take place, Annabeth had a dilemma. She didn't know how to put on her fancy dress.

Of course she knew that she had to pull down the zipper in order to get into the dress, but she didn't have anyone to help her with the zipper once she put the dress on. Analise was busy getting ready for her wedding, and Annabeth was too embarrassed to call her dad.

_I'll have to walk down the aisle with no clothes on, and Analise'll get super mad at me for ruining her perfect wedding! _Annabeth thought with dread. _Analise will hate me forever and then I'll have to run away from home like Snow White and I'm pretty sure dwarfs didn't exist so I'll be homeless and have to live in the park! _

While Annabeth was standing in her underwear panicking about what to do, someone knocked on her door.

"Don't come in yet!" Annabeth cried, "I'm not dressed!"

"Sweetie, it's just me."

"Sally!"

"I came to see if you needed any help," she peered her head out from behind the door, "Oh, don't you look gorgeous. Like a beautiful young lady. Do you want me to help you get the zipper?"

Annabeth was so relieved by this question she felt like crying. "Yes, please," she answered, her voice cracking.

Sally gently helped her step into her dress and tugged it in place. She knelt down to Annabeth's height and fixed the few stray hairs that managed to escape her hairdo.

"There," Sally said satisfied. "Don't tell Analise I said this, but you look even more beautiful than the bride." She carefully kissed Annabeth on the forehead. And for some unknown reason, Annabeth burst into tears.

"Annabeth, sweetie," Sally pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back and shoulders soothingly, "What's the matter?"

This only made Annabeth cry harder. She tried to take even breaths to make her tears stop. She tried so hard to keep her make-up perfect, and now it's all ruined because she's crying for no reason at all.

"Sweetie, I know this is a big change for you, and I know that you're scared. I know a lot of things will be different from now on, but I want you to know that I will always, always, _always_ be here for you. No matter what, okay?"

Annabeth gave a watery nod, and Sally gently wiped away her tears without further smudging her make-up.

Sally dug through her clutch and tapped into her emergency make-up supply. "There you go," she said as she gently fixed Annabeth's eyeliner and patted some blush onto her cheeks, "Now you look just as beautiful as before."

"S-Sally? What if I mess up going down the aisle? What if I trip and forget to scatter rose petals every two counts?"

"Sweetie, it won't matter. Even if you do mess up, just look up at everybody and smile. They'll be so distracted by the pretty girl smiling at them, they won't even notice your whoopies."

Sally hugged her again. "Go knock 'em dead my beautiful, wonderful, talented Annabeth," Sally whispered in her ear.

_A/N: Yay for updating on time! Happy early new year! Guess we'll live to see 2013 after all… As always, thanks for reading :) _

_In case any of you guys were wondering, the title of this fic is part of the lyrics of a _Rent_ song called "Seasons of Love" (hence why the chapter titles are in seasons). So yes, there is going to be romance in the future. Just hang in there. _

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way affiliated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this work._


	4. Winter, 1999

_**Winter, 1999**_

"Shhhh, be really quite. Percy, do you see her? There's Medusa!" Percy crawled out of the sofa-cushions-and-bed-sheet-fort behind Annabeth, peering over her shoulder.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Percy whispered back.

"I'm going to distract her, and you go behind her and chop off her head."

"On three?"

Annabeth nodded. "One… two…," Annabeth paused to look at Percy and make sure he was in position, "Three!" Between Annabeth's plastic dagger and Percy's wooden pirate's sword, poor Medusa never stood a chance.

Percy held up the stuffed snake triumphantly. "Ha! Take that Medusa!" He poked his sword through her again for good measure.

"Percy! Annabeth! Dinner time!" Sally called from the dining room.

"Mom, Mom, Mom!" Percy ran to her holding the snake with Annabeth right behind him, "Look at what we defeated!"

"It's the dreaded Medusa," Annabeth proclaimed.

"You can have it." Percy handed the snake to his mom. "She'll keep you safe because if you're in any danger you just show them the snake and they'll turn to a stone statue."

"Thank you, Percy. It's so kind of you to worry about my safety, but that doesn't mean you and Annabeth don't need to clean up the mess you've made." Sally gave them a stern look. "You still have to tear down your fort. _And _put Medusa back."

"Awww, Mom," Percy whined.

"Percy. No whining."

"Can we at least have dinner in the fort before we put everything back?" Percy asked. "Please?"

"Please, please, pleeeease? Pretty please, Sally?" Annabeth chorused, doing her best to look cute and angelic, like she would be on her best behavior.

"Oh, okay. But only because it's the last day of winter break. You guys both have school tomorrow, so you have to be in bed and _sleeping_ by nine o'clock at the latest. Got it, Percy? No arguing with me this time."

Percy and Annabeth happily brought their macaroni and cheese to their fort. They used the piano bench as their table, sitting on the ground, and ate off of blue plastic plates instead of the dinner china. (Sally did _not_ want an oopsie-daisie to clean up after.)

"I wish your dad and Analise weren't coming home from their trip tomorrow," Percy said, "Then you could stay even longer."

"Yeah." Annabeth missed her dad, but she really, _really_ liked staying with Percy and Sally. It was the most fun she'd ever had.

Usually, all Annabeth did over winter break was stay in her house and read (either with her dad or by herself), but for the two weeks Annabeth stayed at Percy's house, she did all the things normal people did during winter break.

After the first big snow, Sally drove them to a park with huge hills, and they went sledding, and they also built a ginormous snowman on the front lawn. Annabeth wanted it to be at least as tall as she was, and she insisted that it faced her house so she could see it waving every morning from her bedroom window upstairs when she went back home. Then, they got to decorate a Christmas tree that Sally put up in the living room, and it made the room smell really good.

Annabeth also helped Sally bake Christmas cookies and decorated them. (Percy refused to help with the baking part because he thought it was girlie, but he did come into the kitchen when it was time to decorate and ate a lot of them.)

On Christmas Eve, Sally took Annabeth and Percy to the Macy's in New York City to see all the pretty decorations and window shop. (Percy thought that was also really girlie and kept whining until they arrived that the toy shop.)

But Annabeth probably liked going ice skating best, not only because she was better at ice skating than Percy, but also because after skating she got to drink a lot of hot chocolate with lots and lots of marshmallows. Sally made the best hot chocolate. Unlike the hot chocolate her dad made, Sally made her hot chocolate by melting real chocolate and adding milk. It was the yummiest thing she'd ever tasted. Even better than the Christmas cookies.

Annabeth loved spending winter break with Sally and Percy, and on the last night, she ate her macaroni and cheese extra slowly, one noodle at a time, hoping that it would make time pass slower so she could stay with them forever and ever.

_A/N: Thanks for reading and keeping up with this story. Thank you for reviewing, and following, and favoriting. You guys are the best!_

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way affiliated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this work.  
_


	5. Spring, 2000

_**Spring, 2000**_

Monday after school, Annabeth came running out of the school doors looking for Sally and Percy. She was late today, and usually, Sally and Percy would be out here waiting for her. But today, she saw no one.

So she stood by the curb for a little while and waited. She sat down on the bench and waited. And waited. For hours. Trying to quell the panic rising inside, she looked around the empty parking lot frantically. _Maybe they're somewhere else, waiting for me. _She walked around the school looking for them. _They couldn't have left without me. They wouldn't, would they?_ Just as she was about to walk around the school a second time, she heard a car horn beep. She looked up to find a shiny, red car pulling up to the curb of school.

"Annabeth, I called Sally and told her that I would pick you up today. Am I late?" Analise asked as she rolled down the driver's side window.

"Why are you picking me up?" Annabeth was dumbfounded.

"Because I thought we could use a little bonding time. I certainly hope you weren't expecting Sally to take care of you every day after school. That was before your dad and I got married, when he didn't have time to take care of you. Now I'm here," she smiled at Annabeth expectantly. "Aren't you going to get in the car?"

"We usually just walk," Annabeth mumbled under her breath as she was getting in, "Sally said it wasn't good for the environment to drive so much."

The short ride home was unpleasant. Analise tried to make small talk with Annabeth, but Annabeth didn't feel like making the effort to talk to her.

The moment they got home, Annabeth ran up to her room. She opened her bedroom curtains and looked to across the street to where Percy's room was, but the curtains to Percy's room were closed.

Annabeth picked up the walkie talkie Sally gave her for Christmas and pressed the call button.

"Percy?" Static answered her. She flipped through the channels on the walkie talkie, calling Percy's name each time, hoping that she would get an answer, but knowing that she wouldn't. Finally, she got so frustrated she threw the walkie talkie across the room. It landed on her bed, but bounced off and crashed on the floor with a satisfying_ clank!_

Later that evening, Annabeth was holed up in her room, reading a book when the phone rang.

"Annabeth!" Analise called her from downstairs, "It's for you! It's Percy."

Annabeth jumped off the bed, eager to answer the phone, before she remembered that she was mad at Percy. He ditched her. So, instead, she dragged herself downstairs, wanting to make Percy wait for as long as possible.

"Hello?" she said the word with as much meanness as possible.

"Annabeth? Mom said that she's sorry that you can't come over to our house after school anymore. But she said that if you wanted, you could come over for a play date on Friday." Annabeth was stunned. And hurt. They'd never had to schedule a play date before. Annabeth always, _always_ went to Percy's house after school. She never had to ask Sally if she could come over or had a time when she had to go home.

"Can't. I'm too busy for you on Friday," Annabeth said scathingly. "I have other friends I've got to hang out with."

"Oh, okay. How about Saturday?"

"I don't ever want to hang out with you again, Percy. It's time that I only hang out with my other friends." Annabeth wanted to hurt Percy. She wanted to make him cry.

"You don't _have_ other friends. I'm the only one nice enough to be your friend!" Annabeth could hear Percy's anger over the phone and that made her even angrier. He had no right to be angry with her.

"No! I have tons and tons of friends, you just don't know about them!"

"Well, fine. Go play with your other friends. I don't care! You're never invited back to my house ever again!"

"That's fine with me because I never wanted to go to your stupid old house anyways."

"Well. Fine. _Bye!_" Annabeth heard the phone being slammed down

"Bye!" Annabeth slammed her phone down on the table so loudly that Analise jumped. She stomped upstairs and, with a huff, sat on her bed with her arms crossed. She could feel a lump rising in her throat and her nose starting to sting and heat in her eyes. She didn't want to cry over him.

"I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. _I hate him_!" Each sentence was punctuated by hitting her pillow.

"Annabeth? What's wrong?" she heard Analise's voice ask from downstairs. Annabeth didn't feel like answering her. It was all Analise's fault to begin with anyways. She heard footsteps come up the stairs, "Annabeth? Is there something you want to talk about?"

"No, Analise. Go away."

"Young lady, don't speak to me in that tone of voice," her voice turned stern.

Annabeth whipped her head around to glare at her. "I hate you. I wish my dad and you never got married!"

"Annabeth Chase! You will not talk to me with such disrespect. I think it would be a good idea for you to stay in your room and reflect on your actions. Don't come downstairs for dinner until you're sorry." Analise closed the door behind her with firm click, and for some irrational reason, Annabeth felt like she was locked in her own room, like Rapunzel in her tower.

Lying on her bed, she somehow fell asleep.

"Annabeth. Sweetie, I'm so sorry." Annabeth woke to Sally's gentle rubbing of her back.

"Sally? Why are you here? I didn't think I was allowed visitors." _Maybe this is a dream,_ her still-groggy mind thought.

"I'm sorry about the fight you sand Percy had. Percy wasn't very articulate. He didn't mean that we don't love to have you over at our house. It's just that we can't. Percy's on the swim team now, and we don't get back home until late in the evening every day."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Embarrassingly enough, her voice cracked and her eyes welled up with tears again.

"Oh, honey. I'm so sorry. I completely forgot. And when Analise called on Sunday to say that she would pick you up from school from now on, I thought… I thought you knew."

"N-no," Annabeth broke down sobbing, "I didn't know! I-I… I thought you didn't l-l-like me anymore!"

"Never, Annabeth. _Never._" Sally hugged Annabeth to her, cradling the back of her head in her hands, "Don't you ever think that."

"Okay," Annabeth mumbled against the crook of Sally's neck.

Sally held Annabeth and murmured apologies in her ear until Annabeth fell asleep again.

_A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing! _


	6. Summer, 2000

_**Summer, 2000**_

"I still beat you, and you're on the swim team!" Annabeth gloated despite the fact that they've had five races already, and this was the only one she managed to win.

"No, I just let you win!" Percy shot back.

"Nuh-uh, you're just saying that."

"Fine, rematch. Again." Percy turned towards the deck, where Sally was sitting, reading a book, "Mooooom! We need you to be the judge."

Sally walked to the edge of the pool, "What are you two up to now?"

"Annabeth and I are going to race again. Tell us who wins."

"Okay. On your marks," Sally said as Percy and Annabeth braced themselves, preparing to push off, "Get set… Go!" They shot through the water like naiads. Once Annabeth was swimming, she had no idea if she was ahead of Percy or behind, so she swam until she could hear her heart beating in her ears and her arms and legs burned. When she came up to take a breath, she saw that Percy was ahead of her.

Annabeth swam even harder, but Percy still reached the other side of the pool first, so when she caught up to Percy on the other side of the pool, she did the only thing she could think of. She splashed him.

They stayed at the pool until the tips of their fingers turned white and prune-y, their lips turned blue, and the life guards yelled for them to get out because the pool was closing.

Annabeth went back to Percy's house and they had a sleepover. Like usual, they forbade Sally to turn any of the lights on and only lit candles and flashlights because they liked to pretend they were camping.

So, that night, even though there were two perfectly comfortable empty beds, Percy and Annabeth dragged their blankets to the ground and slept curled up next to each other on the carpet.

_A/N: Guess what? I updated early! Yay! I'm sorry this is so short though. This was just a really cute, fluffy piece I wanted to write to break up some of the angst and sadness. Don't worry, the next chapter is back to standard length. It just wouldn't fit if I wrote this in with the next chapter. You'd rather be able to read it as its own chapter than not at all, right? ;) _

_I hope you enjoyed it, and as always, thank you for reading and reviewing! _

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way affiliated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this work._


	7. Winter, 2001

_**Winter, 2001**_

They were crying. Again. And Annabeth couldn't sleep, again, because the stupid twins' wailing was so loud. She tossed and turned, dragged her covers over her head and covered her ears with her pillow. But it didn't work. Nothing, _nothing_ could block out the very loud wails of the baby step brothers.

Frustrated, Annabeth got out of bed and padded to Annalise and her father's room. The door was open and Analise, with her bathrobe haphazardly thrown on over her nightgown, was trying to calm both brothers down at the same time.

"Analise, could you please make them be quiet?"

"Annabeth, go back to your room and go to sleep."

"I can't," Annabeth whined, "They're screaming too loud."

"Annabeth. Stop whining. You're _always_ whining. Don't you think I have enough to deal with? I haven't had any peace and quiet in days because of your brothers' crying; I don't want to deal with you too."

"They're not my brothers."

"Of course they're your brothers! They're certainly not your sisters," Analise replied sourly.

"No, they're not my brothers because you're not my mom."

"Annabeth, what nonsense are you spewing now? Of course I'm your mom. What other mom would you have?"

"You're not my mom because I don't love you. I'm supposed to love my mom, but I don't love you."

"You… you. You _ungrateful_ little bi—brat!" Analise screamed at Annabeth. "Do you think I _want_ to care about you and your little problems with your Percy? That I _like_ taking time out of my day to pick you up? No!" she yelled, jabbing her finger at the open door, "Get out. Get out of my face, get out of my house, get out of my _life!_ Just—I don't even care—_GET OUT!_"

Annabeth bolted for her bedroom. _I'm running away. I don't want to stay anymore._ She grabbed her blanket and tied a few pieces of clothing in it—a t-shirt, a sweater, her stuffed owl, some pants. _I'm going really far away, some place where they'll never find me. They'll have to search forever and ever, but they won't ever find me. Then they'll be sad for the rest of their lives. _She took her bundle of clothes, jammed her feet in her sneakers, and walked out the front door.

It was freezing outside. Flurries were just starting to coat everything with snow. Annabeth wished that she remembered to grab her jacket. She didn't want to go back inside and get it; that would make her seem like she regretted running away. But as she heard her shoes crunch in the snow and shivered as the wind blew through her cotton pajamas, Annabeth realized how stupid her plan was. She had nowhere to go this late at night.

She did the only thing she could. Annabeth walked across the street and rang Sally and Percy's doorbell. She shivered and waited, but there was no response. She rang it again and again and again.

Finally, the door opened to reveal a rather frazzled-looking Sally. "Annabeth! What are you doing here so late? You must be freezing without a coat. Quick, come in and close the door. Is everything okay, sweetie?"

"I'm running away from home," Annabeth declared.

"Oh, darling," Sally hugged Annabeth. "Why don't we talk over a cup of hot chocolate? How does that sound?"

Annabeth had just finished telling Sally about her fight with Analise when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Mom? Why are the lights on?" Percy asked, rubbing his eyes, "Annabeth! Why are you here?"

"Percy, Annabeth is going to stay with us tonight. Is that okay?"

"Yeah! Can we sleep in the blue room then?"

"Okay, but it's late, so you're not going to have time to lay out the blankets like you usually do. And it's too cold to sleep on the floor."

"Okay, we'll sleep on the bed then."

Sally got up to put Annabeth's mug into the sink. Then, she herded both of them upstairs and to bed.

"Percy, my dad said that we're too old to have sleepovers now. He said that sleepovers between a boy and a girl can only happen if they were brother and sister," Annabeth's whisper drifted through the darkness.

"That's silly. Mom said that you can sleepover anytime you want, and you belong to us now because you ran away from home, so only Mom's rules apply."

"I wish you were my brother instead of Bobby and Matthew."

"I wish you were my sister, too. Then, you'd live with us all the time."

"G'night, Percy." Annabeth reached over to Percy's side to hold his hand.

"Night, Annabeth," Percy murmured. Even though he was too old to hold hands with a girl, Percy let Annabeth hold his because she seemed very sad. Percy figured Annabeth needed something to comfort her and holding Sally's hand had always made him feel better, so Percy thought that if Annabeth was holding his hand, it would make her feel better.

The next morning, while Annabeth was feasting on banana-chocolate chip pancakes, Analise came rushing into the dining room.

"Annabeth! Thank goodness you're okay! I was so worried about you."

Annabeth didn't look at her. "Why would you worry about me? You hate me."

"I'm so sorry about the hurtful words I said to you last night," Analise reached out to hold Annabeth's hand, "I didn't mean them. I was tired and frustrated." Annabeth jerked her hand out of Analise's reach.

"Please, Annabeth, forgive me." Annabeth kept eating her pancakes meticulously, looking everywhere except at Analise.

Sally cleared her throat, "Is it okay if Annabeth stays over for the weekend? Percy hasn't been able to see much of Annabeth lately with his swimming schedule, and we'd love to have Annabeth over."

Analise glanced at Annabeth pleadingly, "Please, Annabeth. Talk to me."

"No," Annabeth replied stubbornly.

"I'm sure you could need a break from taking care of these kids. You must be exhausted. Why don't you go back home, get some rest, and give Annabeth some time to cool down here?" Sally reasoned.

"Okay…," Analise agreed reluctantly, "Please come back home Annabeth. I know you're mad at me, and I have absolutely no excuse to say those awful words to you. I'm so, so sorry. Promise you'll come back."

Analise's word were met with a tense silence.

"Okay," Annabeth finally agreed. She wanted to get Analise out of here; Analise didn't belong.

"Alright, I'll see you Monday, after school?"

"Don't worry, I'll drop her right off," Sally reassured Analise.

"Are you really going to make me go back home?" Annabeth asked after Analise left.

"Annabeth," Sally chose her next words carefully, "you know that we love to have you here, right? And you can stay as long as you'd like, but I'm afraid that after this weekend is over, you're going to miss your family."

"I won't miss them. They don't want me."

"Sweetie,_ of course _they want you! They love you. Analise was just having a bad night. Sometimes people say mean things when they're going through a bad time; you can't take that to heart."

"Okay, fine. I'll think about it. But I won't promise anything."

Monday after school, Annabeth agreed to go back home, but only because she forgot to bring her favorite book to Percy's house, and she wanted to reread it.

_A/N: Sorry this is so late; today was a really busy day. I hoped you guys enjoyed it! (Writing all this angst and sadness was hard…) Thanks for reading and reviewing! You guys always manage to make my day :)_

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way affiliated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this work._


	8. Spring, 2002

_**Spring, 2002**_

Analise pulled up to the soccer field promptly at 3:59 PM. "Okay, Annabeth, I'll see you in two hours."

Annabeth stared out the car window. Girls were already milling about the field, grouping together with their friends. They were chatting and laughing, and even though they looked identical to Annabeth with their messy ponytails and baggy uniform, Annabeth didn't feel like they were the same as her. At all.

She hated going to soccer.

"Analise, do I _have_ to go?" Annabeth asked.

"Yes," Analise replied firmly. "I already paid for this season and for the shin guards and cleats, so you have to. You can't tell if you like a sport just by going to one practice, Annabeth. Don't be a quitter." Annabeth forced the car door open, heaved herself out, and watched with dread as Analise drove away.

She took a deep breath, braced herself, and jogged towards the field. She didn't know where to go. Talking to one of those girls was as impossible as keeping the Bauldaire orphans away from Count Olaf. So Annabeth went to go stand by the bleachers. She fidgeted with her shorts, her jersey, her hair, _anything, _just to find something to do. She practiced saying the alphabet backwards. Four times. Practiced her multiplication tables. She got up to twelve times five before the Coach Diana finally called the team together to start drills.

As they were standing there listening to instructions, another girl, who also had blonde hair, ran across the field from the parking lot to join them. She stood by Annabeth.

"What are we doing right now?" she whispered Annabeth.

"Coach Diana is about to tell us how to do a practice drill," Annabeth replied.

"Oh, okay."

They were practicing passes today with a partner.

"Want to be my partner?" the blonde girl who came in late asked.

"Okay." Annabeth tried not to let her relief show too much.

"My name is Silena. What's yours?"

"Annabeth."

"Are you new to the team too?"

"Yes."

"We just moved here, so I've never played on this team before, and I had to skip the last practice because my family was on vacation."

"Oh, well, this is only my second time playing soccer."

"You're pretty good for someone who only played soccer twice."

"Thanks."

"What school do you go to?"

"Yancey Elementary School."

"Me too! What grade are you in?"

"Third."

"Me too!"

By the time practice was over, Annabeth had found out that Silena's favorite color was pink, that she had a country house in Utah where she had a pony named Venus, and was invited to a playdate at her house Friday after school. Analise was thrilled.

_A/N: Guys, I have some bad news. I'm going to have to stop writing this fic for a while. I'm so, so, SOOOOO sorry. I promise that it WILL get finished. I just have a lot on my plate right now, and real life is really getting to me. _

_I'll be posting some new chapters now and then, but it's going to be very sporadically updated until this semester is over (and then I can go back to my normal once-a-week updates). BUT IT WILL BE FINISHED. One day. (I have an outline of the entire story as proof.) You guys have been so awesome! Thank you so much for every review, favorite, and follow. _

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way affiliated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this work._


	9. Autumn, 2002

_**Autumn, 2002**_

They were playing a game of capture the flag in Percy's backyard. Percy, being the birthday boy, was the captain of the blue team. The captain of the red team was a boy from Percy's swim team named Ethan.

Annabeth was thrilled they were playing capture the flag. It was a game she was really good at, and she was sure that she could teach the boys a lesson or two.

"Charlie," Ethan called out, "You're on my team."

Annabeth waited expectantly. It was Percy's turn to pick a team member next.

"Lee, wanna be on my team?" Percy asked, and it made Annabeth feel like she was punched in the stomach. How could Percy betray her like that? How could he not pick _her_ first? Percy knew that she was good at capture the flag; she'd beat him at it so many times before.

Why didn't Percy choose her?

Slowly, every boy at Percy's birthday party was chosen to be on either the blue team or red team, and Annabeth was the only person left over. Her face burned with embarrassment and frustration.

It was Ethan's turn to pick, but he grimaced, "Ew, I don't want a girl on my team. Girls have _cooties_, and she's gonna infect the whole team."

"I don't have cooties," Annabeth replied hotly. "There's no such thing as cooties. And if they did exist, boys would be more likely to have them because boys have bad personal hygiene."

"We don't have bad personal hygiene," Ethan retorted, even though he had no idea what the words "personal hygiene" meant.

"Annabeth, you can come join our team," Percy said, trying to play peacemaker.

"_Ewwww_," Kevin complained, "I don't want a girl on our team either."

"I don't even want to play your stupid game anyways," Annabeth said and promptly turned her back on them, stomped off the field, and went back in the house.

_It's all Percy's fault,_ Annabeth thought, _if he picked me first, none of the boys would have complained. I'm _good_ at capture the flag. _Annabeth felt the suffocating heat creep up her throat, creep along the corners of her eyes. She refused to cry. Crying would just make her seem like even more of a girl.

Sally looked up as the back door banged shut. "Annabeth, why aren't you outside playing capture the flag with the boys? You love capture the flag."

"I didn't feel like it," Annabeth tried to shrug it off.

"Percy's not being exclusive, is he? Sometimes he can act a little unlike himself around the boys on the swim team."

"Percy's being a jerk. He's being mean to me, and I'm his best friend!"

"Don't take it to heart, Annabeth. He's only acting like that because he wants to impress the boys on the swim team."

"I don't know why he would want to hang out with those idiots anyways," Annabeth muttered under her breath.

"Forget about them. Don't let them ruin your day." Sally held out a frosting knife to Annabeth, "Do you want to come help me frost the cake?" she asked.

Annabeth hesitated. She loved helping Sally, but baking was a _girl's_ thing.

"You know, the culinary arts is a male-dominated field, but it was a woman who made it popular."

"Oh," Annabeth paused, "what does culinary arts mean?"

"It's the art of cooking and baking, making food. Besides," she said with a wink, "since you're making their food, you can always spit in it as revenge."

Annabeth giggled, took the knife, and carefully started spreading the creamy, light blue frosting over the cooled blue velvet cake. Sally let Annabeth pipe the words "Happy Birthday Percy!" on the finished product. Annabeth looked at her handy work. There was not a single letter crooked or smooshed. It was perfect.

The boys came in after their game of capture the flag sweaty and hungry.

"We won! We won!" Ethan came in holding up a blue flag.

_You wouldn't have lost if I was on your team, Percy,_ Annabeth thought smugly. _Serves you right._

"Alright," Sally sat the boys down at the dining table, "let's eat some pizza and cake, and Percy can open presents afterwards."

After singing "Happy Birthday" to Percy and consuming a lot of blue food, Percy started opening his pile of presents.

Percy left his mom and Annabeth's presents until last because his mom told him they were the best ones.

Percy tore into the wrapping paper of Annabeth's first present. It was a dog leash. Percy stared at it, confused, "Thanks Annabeth… but I don't have a dog."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. Percy can be so dense sometimes. "Just keep opening your presents, Seaweed Brains."

"Hey!" Percy protested as he opened his next present from her to reveal a water bowl decorated with fish jumping out of the ocean along the sides. Her last present was a doggy food bowl. "Wait," Percy said, finally connecting the dots, "does this mean I'm getting a dog, Mom?"

"Open your present from me," Sally handed him an envelope. Inside was a voucher that read:

**ARTEMIS ANIMAL SHELTER**

This coupon allows

MR. PERSEUS JACKSON

the adoption of __**1**__pet of his choosing.

"This is awesome!" Percy hugged his mom, "Thanks, Mom!"

"Thanks, Annabeth," Percy said with a grin. "Do you want to come to the animal shelter to help me pick out my dog?"

"Okay." Annabeth couldn't help noticing that in the end, Percy asked _her_ to come, not one of his stupid, swim team guy friends.

The next day, they brought home a beautiful black lab, who was days away from getting put down. Percy wanted to name him Hellhound because he was big and black, but then, he found out that his dog was actually a girl. So Annabeth suggested that they name the dog Mrs. O'Leary because the dog reminded them of their third grade teacher. She looked tough and scary on the outside, but she was really nice and friendly once they got to know her.

_A/N: Uh… surprise?! I updated! Sorry about the wait, but if you kill me now, you won't get the next chapter, and I promise that the next chapter is something juicy. Well, at least I think so. I can't promise that I'll update next week, but it will be sometime soon! At least, it won't be three months. _

_Thanks for reading and keeping up with my (sometimes pathetic) story. You guys are all lovely. _

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way affiliated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this work._


	10. Summer, 2003

_**Summer, 2003**_

_"Do you remember when I told you I was 104 years old?" Jesse asked Winnie._

On TV, Winnie nodded her head.

"_Well... it's the honest truth."_

This movie was disappointing. Annabeth was excited to see the _Tuck Everlasting_ movie because she really liked the book, but the movie was nothing like the book. It was all... kiss-y and romantic. And Winnie was so old! She definitely wasn't ten like she was in the book.

But Annabeth found herself fascinated and disgusted with the kissing scenes. It was fascinating because the people looked like they really enjoyed it, but Annabeth didn't think it should look so pretty. After all, kissing was basically swapping saliva.

_What was it like to kiss a boy?_ Annabeth wondered. _Did it make you fall in love with him? Was it really as nice as the movies and books say it was? Did you really make such loud sucking noises?  
_

She'd have to ask Sally the next time Percy wasn't around.

* * *

"Sally, what's kissing like?" Annabeth asked while she and Sally were driving to pick Percy up from swim practice. "Is it nice?"

"Hmmm," Sally contemplated what to say while she parked the car at the front of the swimming pool building. This was one discussion she had yet to have with Percy. "It's very enjoyable if it's done with the right person."

"But how do you know you're kissing the right person?"

"Kissing is a way of showing your affection to people you love," Sally explained. "I kiss you and Percy on the cheek because I love you both. You kiss Mrs. O'Leary on the head because you love her. I bet your dad and Analise kiss each other all the time; you just don't know it. You kiss people you love because it's like telling them "I love you" without using words. Does that make sense?"

"So all the people in the movies," Annabeth said, mulling it over, "when they kiss the other actors, they love all of those other people enough to kiss them?"

"No, sweetie. It's a little bit different in movies. In movies, people pretend they're in love. That's what they get paid for."

"Did you like kissing Percy's dad?"

Sally smiled softly, "Yes. Very much so." Sally looked at Annabeth in her rearview mirror, "Annabeth, sweetie, I know you don't really understand this right now, but just promise me—_promise me_—that you grow older, you won't kiss anyone that you don't love."

"Okay," Annabeth agreed readily. She doubted that she would kiss anyone anyway.

Their conversation effectively ended when they saw Percy come out of the building and get in the car, and Annabeth knew this was one conversation she didn't want to have with Percy around.

* * *

Annabeth was sitting on the hammock underneath the shade of the trees' in Percy's backyard, trying to read _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_. (She made her dad pre-order the book in February for her birthday present.)

She was _trying_ to read because Percy, who was also sitting in the hammock, wouldn't keep still. Every couple pages, he would rock the hammock by swinging his legs back and forth, and Annabeth would have to kick him to make him stop.

"Percy," Annabeth glared at him, "can't you just sit still and read?"

"No. Reading is boring," Percy complained.

"But you have to read that book for summer reading!"

"It's only the beginning of summer vacation, Annabeth," Percy rolled his eyes. "I still have a bunch of months."

Annabeth ignored him and went back to reading her book. Harry was just about to kiss Cho.

"C'mon, Annabeth. Let's go play at the park," Percy tugged at Annabeth's t-shirt.

"Hold on," she murmured distractedly. "Let me finish this chapter."

"Humph. Fine. You have until I count to ten."

Harry kissed Cho, but neither of them seemed to enjoy it.

"One."

Harry even made Cho cry.

"Two."

But why? Sally said that if two people loved each other, they would enjoy kissing. Harry loved Cho, and Cho liked Harry. Maybe they didn't like each other _enough_ for it to be nice.

"Three."

Annabeth wished there was someone she could experiment on so she could know what kissing was really like.

"Four. Fi—"

"Percy." Annabeth suddenly looked up at him and slammed her book closed. "Want to try something with me?"

"What?" Percy answered cautiously. He had a feeling they weren't going to the park anytime soon.

"Can I kiss you?"

"Like, on the lips?" Percy crinkled his nose up in disgust.

"Yeah. Please? I just want to know what it feels like."

"I don't want to touch your spit!"

"You won't have to. You'll just have to touch my lips."

"Why do you even want to kiss?" Percy made a face. "It's not like I'm your boyfriend."

"Because I want to know what it feels like. It's an experiment."

Percy sighed. "Fine, then can we go to the park after?"

"Okay."

They stared at each other.

"Uh, so... now what do we do?" Percy asked.

"Well, we have to move closer so our lips can touch," Annabeth said reasonably.

Neither of them moved.

"Okay. Let's just get this over with," Percy said as he shifted closer to Annabeth.

"Kiss on the count of three?"

Percy nodded, "One." He took a deep breath, "Twothree."

Annabeth closed her eyes and puckered up her lips, making sure that she only touched Percy in the slightest bit. Percy, however, smashed his lips into hers. The kiss was not soft or warm. It was cold and hard and it _hurt. _

"Ow!" Annabeth cried as she backed away from Percy. "We are never doing that again. I don't see why people like kissing."

"Good. Can we go to the park now?"

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

"You _what_?" Silena managed to squeal out.

"I kissed Percy," Annabeth stated matter-of-factly, "It wasn't like it was a serious kiss or anything; I just wanted to know how it felt."

"So… what was it like?"

"Bad." She shook her head vehemently. "I'm never kissing anyone ever again."

"Maybe you were just doing it wrong," Silena replied doubtfully. "My sister says that she could make-out for hours. It can't be that bad if people want to do it for so long."

"Yeah, but I could spend hours playing with spiders. That doesn't mean I _want_ to."

"If kissing wasn't as fun as it seemed, why would people do it?"

"I don't know," Annabeth shrugged. "To make babies?"

Silena gave Annabeth her oh-my-gosh-I-can't-believe-you-just-said-that look. "Do you _feel_ pregnant?"

"I didn't mean it like that!" Annabeth said defensively.

"I think you should wait until you're older, like twelve or thirteen, before you try to kiss Percy again."

Annabeth shrugged, "Can we just go back to playing soccer?" She passed the ball to Silena, regretting that she brought up her kiss with Percy in the first place.

_A/N: Sorry this took so long; I went a little overboard editing. And I had some trouble uploading the chapter. Hope it was at least worth the wait… Heehee. _

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way affiliated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this work._


	11. Autumn, 2004 (I)

_**Autumn, 2004  
**_

The doorbell wouldn't stop ringing.

Annabeth knew it was Percy at the door, so she kept ignoring it. There were sounds of the door unlocking and someone stepping in. "Annabeth?"

This was the one time Annabeth regretted telling Percy about the extra key hidden in their potted plants by the front door.

As Percy climbed the stairs up to bedroom, Annabeth scrambled to pull the covers up to her chin and pretended to go to sleep.

Percy flung her door open without bothering to knock. "Annabeth, what's the matter with you? Why are you pretending to be asleep on the first day of school?"

"I'm sick," Annabeth mumbled.

"No you're not."

"Yes I am."

"You're not because if you really were sick you'd be in bed reading, not sleeping. And you're not eating oranges and those disgusting fruit popsicles. _And_ you would never admit you were sick." Percy snorted, "You had a hundred and two degrees fever and still went to school that one time."

Annabeth tried to cough convincingly, "My head hurts too much to get out of bed."

Percy stared at her, "What's wrong with you? You _love _going to school. And it's the first day of middle school. Why aren't you talking my head off about how you're so excited for school?"

Annabeth sighed, "Just go without me, Percy. I can miss the first day. Tell me how school was when you get back."

"You didn't get abducted by aliens or anything, right? Because the real Annabeth would never say that."

Annabeth gave him her best death glare. "Seriously, Percy. Just go."

"Wait, that's no fair. If you get to stay home and be fake-sick, I don't want to go to school either."

Alarmed, Annabeth kicked off her covers. "No, Percy, you can't just miss school!"

"And it's okay if you do?"

"Yeah, well, I have a good reason."

"Yeah? What is it? 'Cause you're definitely not sick. And how'd you get Annalise to think you were sick anyways?"

"I stuck the thermometer under the lamp. Did a headstand so all the blood rushed to my head. Then I used one of Analise's heating pads and put it on my face."

Percy stared at her in awe, "You're a genius."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "I probably shouldn't tell you this anyways. Now you know how to be convincingly fake-sick."

"I don't think Mom's going to be fooled. It's like she has a sixth sense. You still haven't said why you're trying to skip school! Annabeth, you had a perfect attendance every year. So what's the real problem? Is the world going to end if you don't skip school today or something?"

"Percy, aren't you a little bit scared of going to middle school?"

"No. Why would I be? School is school."

"But it's completely different! We have to switch classrooms every period, and we get so many different teachers."

Percy snorted, "Don't tell me you're afraid that you won't get all of them to like you."

Annabeth was quiet.

"That's why you wanted to skip school today?" Percy asked incredulously, "Because you were afraid that you couldn't get all the teachers to like Little Miss Perfect?"

"No!" Annabeth denied, whacking Percy with her pillow. "Can you be serious for a second?"

Percy pulled his face down into a frown. "Miss Chase," he said in a fake-deep voice, "Would please inform me as to why you are ditching school?"

Annabeth whacked him again, and this time, she was relentless.

Percy and Annabeth arrived on the first day of middle school in the middle of third period. While the rest of their classmates were in homeroom and first period, Percy and Annabeth had a pillow fight. And since they missed the bus, during second and third period, they walked to school. Luckily, they had third period together. It was the only class they had together.

On the bus ride back home, they shared a seat, passing Annabeth's leftover carrots and ranch between them and splitting Percy's last blue chocolate chip cookie in half.

"You know," Annabeth admitted looking out the window, "middle school isn't that bad."

"Finally! I get to be right and you get to be wrong for once."

"Yeah," Annabeth said rolling her eyes and smiling, "this is probably the _only_ time."

* * *

_A/N: What did you guys think about the _House of Hades_ cover?! I had a near heart attack. And a mini-freak out session. PERCABETH! (I'm still annoyed that they didn't put_ _Annabeth of the _Mark of Athena_ cover. IT WAS HER BOOK. And the picture of Jason and Percy fighting each other was a hoax! It wasn't even central to the plot!) _


	12. Autumn, 2004 (II)

_**Autumn, 2004**_

"I dressed up like Gwen Stacy last year because you wanted to be Spider-Man." Annabeth crossed her arms at her chest. "Well, it's my turn now. And I want to dress up like Harry Potter characters."

"But that's not even original," Percy countered.

"Yeah, because Spider-Man is _so_ original."

"Did you see anyone one else dress up like Gwen Stacy? Noooo. Because only a real Spider-Man fan knows who Gwen Stacy is."

"C'mon. It's my year to decide our Halloween theme. Can't you just go along with it?"

"But I don't even like Harry Potter! Shouldn't I at least like who I'm going to dress up as?" He figured arguing with logic was the best way to appeal to Annabeth.

"You only don't like him because you've only watched the movies."

"He's always so mopey. I'm so sad there's no one to take care of me. Boo-hoo-hoo. I always get the worst luck," Percy said mockingly. "Harry Potter needs to get over himself."

"Well, maybe you should read the books before judging the main character."

"They're too long and boring."

"Take that back," Annabeth said hotly.

"No."

"Your brain is just too small to understand their awesomeness. Seaweed Brain."

"Nerd." Percy tried to say that with as much venom in his voice as possible, but it really didn't measure up to the name Seaweed Brain in terms of insults.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Annabeth huffed, "I like being a nerd. At least I can use my brain."

"Fine. Then I'm not dressing up like Harry Potter."

Annabeth was going to say that Percy never agreed to dressing up like Harry Potter in the first place, but thought better of it. "Please? I'll be Hermione, and Grover already said he'd be Ron."

"Okaaaay," Percy sighed, "I guess I'll have to be Harry Potter."

After they went trick-or-treating every year, Percy and Annabeth categorized and laid out all their candy. They survey each other's stash, and the intensive trading began.

"I'll trade you my Twizzlers for a Twix," Percy said, starting out their annual ritual.

"No way." Annabeth snatched her Twix bar from Percy's reach.

"Why not?" Percy demanded, "Twizzlers are your favorite!"

"But Twix are your favorite. _And_ you hate Twizzlers, so I don't think that would be a fair trade."

"Fine. I'll give you all three of my Twizzlers for the Twix."

Annabeth pretended to mull it over, just to make Percy wait.

"Okay," she finally agreed.

She handed her Twix bar over and greedily added the Twizzlers to her pile. Sometimes, she liked this part of Halloween even more than she liked the actual trick-or-treating.

* * *

_A/N: Percy as Harry Potter. I wish that was cannon. He would make a great Harry. Also, thank you guys so much for reading this story. I can't believe more than 50 people on this earth would care enough about this to follow and read every chapter! (Even if you don't read every chapter, thanks for giving my story a chance.) You guys are awesome!_

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way affiliated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this work._


	13. Autumn, 2004 (III)

_**Autumn, 2004 **_

Percy was hanging out with Ethan, playing Super Smash Brothers.

"Oh, you have to leave in ten minutes," Percy said absent-mindedly, trying to keep Link from falling off the edge of the stadium even though he was at 223% damage.

"What?" Ethan demanded, "You promised that I would have a turn with Link."

"I'm leaving to go camping soon."

"Fine. Then hurry up and die so I can use Link."

"Percy!" Sally called from upstairs, "Annabeth is coming in a few minutes. Are you all packed?"

"Aw, seriously Percy," Ethan whined. "You'd rather hang out with Annabeth than me? You're ditching me for a _girl_?"

Percy shifted in his spot on the floor uncomfortably. "I'm not ditching you. It's a family thing."

"No, no. It's okay. I get it. You'd rather take a stroll in the woods and make out under the stars. That's much better than doing stuff that guys actually do."

"Whoa, hey! It's not like that with Annabeth."

"Go make out with your giiiiiiirlfriend," Ethan taunted. "You're probably contaminated with her spit anyways. I'm wanna stay far, far away from you."

"What's your problem, Ethan?"

"You're my problem. You play videogames like a girl."

"Well, at least she's nicer to me," Percy mumbled under his breath.

"Awwwww. You liiiiiiike her. How cute."

"What! No! I don't like her! I mean. I _do_ like her. But just not in that way."

Just then, Annabeth walked into the living room, "Ready to go Percy? Did you even finish packing?"

Ethan started making kissing noises. "Mwah. Mwah. I just love you sooooooo much," he said in a falsetto. "Come runaway with me and ditch all your friends."

Annabeth gave Ethan a stony glare. "C'mon just ignore him. He's not worth talking to."

"I think if there's anyone who's worthless in this room, it's you." Ethan said coldly.

Annabeth realized that Ethan was a bully. He picked on other people because he was insecure about himself. Annabeth also knew that the only way to defeat bullies was to not let them get to you.

It was a simple idea, but hard to put into practice. Annabeth was furious.

"Hey," Percy protested, "Annabeth's not worthless. Don't say that."

"Oh, yeah," Ethan sneered, "What do you guys even do together? Because I'm sure she couldn't play a video game if her life depended on it."

Percy opened his mouth to defend his friend, but Annabeth silenced him with a look. _I can fight my own battles_.

"You think I can't do something as easy as playing a video game?" Annabeth scoffed. "I like to do things that are more intelligent and edifying with my time."

Ethan had no idea what the word edifying meant. Annabeth didn't actually know what it meant either, but she heard Annalise use it last week and thought she would use it to sound as intimidating as possible.

"Prove it." Ethan shoved the controller at Annabeth.

"Okay." Annabeth easily took the controller and moved the cursor over Link, about to lock in her character.

"No way," Ethan glared at her, "_I_ get to play with Link. _You_ can play with Princess Peach."

"What? That's not fair!" Percy protested.

Annabeth narrowed her eyes at Ethan, "Princess Peach is the worst video game character ever. She's constantly in need of rescuing. She can't do anything."

"I figured that the characters should reflect their players."

Annabeth's grey eyes flashed with anger. "Whatever. Even if I play by your rules, I can still beat you."

Twenty minutes later, Princess Peach was on the screen doing her victory dance. Annabeth threw her controller in the box with all the video gaming stuff, "C'mon Percy. We should get going."

"Wait! I want a rematch. You probably cheated!"

Annabeth spun violently to face Ethan. "_Listen_," she seethed. "I've already wasted enough of my time playing by your rules."

She jabbed her finger towards him. "You are nothing but a big, butt-faced bully. And I'm not tolerating you anymore." Then, she promptly marched out the living room.

"Annabeth," Percy said after Ethan left and they were packing up the car for their camping trip, "You are one of the smartest people I know. And have a gods-given talent for defeating me at video games, but seriously. Big, butt-faced bully? That was the worst insult you could come up with?"

Annabeth giggled. "Hey, at least it had alliteration."

* * *

_A/N: Oh dear. Sorry about the lack of updates! I've been doing a lot of traveling lately, and there's been a lot going on in real life. Also, I've been having a hard time with this chapter. It didn't really turn out to be what I had in mind, but, well, it is what it is. Thanks for reading! _

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way affiliated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this work._


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